# Suffering of the Exalted Letters

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Bahá'u'lláh, Suffering of the Exalted Letters, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Introduction to the Musíbat-Ḥurúf-i-Alín, ​the Suffering of the Exalted Letters
> 
> By Joshua Hall
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh revealed the Musíbat-Ḥurúf-i-Alín, or the Suffering of the Exalted Letters, during the
> Baghdad period following the death of His cousin, Muḥammad Vazír. He addressed it to His cousins
> Maryam and Havvá, the former being the sister of Muḥammad Vazír and the latter his wife, to the end
> that it might be a consolation to them and others in facing the ineluctable passing of family and loved
> ones. The Tablet takes the form of an extended supplication to God composed in eight parts, in which
> Bahá’u’lláh illustrates the creation of man, the journey to maturity and perfection, and then the process
> of death and the pain of desolation.
> 
> The term ‘letter’ in the Bábí signification was indicative of a believer, and parts one and two could
> thus be seen as describing the hardships and persecutions which the Letters of the Living sustained in
> the Bábí Dispensation, in addition to the woes that had befallen the entire body of the Cause. The
> second part employs the allegory of lamps shedding divine light, whom God preserved from “the
> winds of antipathy” but who eventually succumbed and were extinguished, perhaps narrating the
> careers of the stalwart defenders of the Báb’s nascent Faith.
> 
> Part three describes the beginning of man, how the seed passes through the generations of the
> forefathers and attains unto the womb of one of God’s handmaidens; how the embryo is formed by
> the loving providence of God and the fetus endowed with a noble and beauteous form. The man is
> born, grows to maturity under the guidance and shelter of God, attains belief in Him and steadfastness
> in His Cause—thereby coming to perfection as a creature of God—and then finally succumbing to the
> assailing tides of entropy and finding his final abode in the womb of the earth, paralleling his
> beginning in the womb of his mother. Bahá’u’lláh assures us that this is all in the design of God and is
> the realization of what He has ordained in His wisdom.
> 
> Bahá’u’lláh portrays a similar process with a heavenly Tree and a divine House, depicting the most
> sumptuous images of beauty, perfection, and wealth, along with the ultimate decline of the very same.
> The symbolic weight of these allegories should not be overlooked, and it is to be noted that the full
> depth and significance of this Work cannot be encompassed be a short outline.
> 
> To this point the Tablet has assumed the tone of a plaint and lamentation, while expressing
> resignation to God’s decree and immutable judgement; it begins to transition in part seven, however,
> with Bahá’u’lláh’s beseeching God’s forgiveness for all that he had written in lamentation, affirming
> that God never deals unjustly with His servants, but rather ordains for them that which is the best for
> them in accordance with His divine wisdom; for if man never underwent the death of the body, he
> could not obtain true life in the spirit. Bahá’u’lláh exclaims that it is as though He can behold
> Muḥammad Vazír traversing the heavenly realms of God and attaining unto the Beatific Vision, but
> that this reality which is known to Him is veiled from humanity, and so death is a cause of hardship
> and grief.
> 
> In the eighth part, we see another transition in Bahá’u’lláh’s narrative, for He then makes mention
> of Havvá, who, her name meaning ‘Eve’, is described as being the namesake of the mother of all
> creation. He then makes mention of Maryam as she whom God singled out from amongst all women,
> insofar as she is named after Mary, the mother of Christ. He recounts, in heart-rending language, their
> suffering which followed the death of Muḥammad Vazír and their lonesomeness in that they were
> bereft of a mother to grieve for them, companions to console them, handmades to care for them and to
> comb their locks which had been disarrayed in grief. Bahá’u’lláh prays for these two women,
> beseeching God to solace and succour them, and closes the Tablet with a final supplication in the
> memory of Muḥammad Vazír.
> 
> This Tablet can well be considered as one among the most moving works of the Baghdad period,
> though previously inaccessible to the West on account of its not being translated into English.
> Bahá’u’lláh Himself translated it from the original Arabic into Persian at the request of some believers.
> This rendering He said was not literal, as that would not “be in accord with sweetness”; it could thus
> be regarded as being revealed anew in the Persian mode. The differences between the two versions are
> often very slight, although there is occasionally new material in the Persian translation, such as an
> address to the people of the Bayán, possibly reflecting the change in audience. The following
> provisional translation is based on the original Arabic text as found in Ad’iyyih-i-Ḥaḍrat-i-Maḥbúb.
> 
> To this day, the Suffering of the Exalted Letters is often recited at funerals by Bahá’ís of Eastern
> extraction, by virtue of its themes of birth, death, and the very purpose of human life and existence. It
> offers us a narrative illustration of the grieving process, beginning with shock and bereavement, sorrow
> and lamentation, moving to resignation and acquiescence, and finally ending in an understanding of
> death and human purpose as ordained by God. This Tablet is in its essence a meditation authored by
> one of no less a station than a Manifestation of God on the human journey and our ultimate goal.
> 
> The Tablet itself, as expressed earlier in this introduction, resists a brief encapsulation, and its
> richness, depth, and inner significance can perhaps only be opened by the contemplative and prayerful
> heart. It is my hope that the following provisional translation of this sublime example of God’s
> Revelation will lead its readers to a greater appreciation of the Baghdad period in Bahá’u’lláh’s
> ministry, and be a consolation to all those that have suffered the pain of bereavement.
> I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to Adib Masumian for his proofreading of the
> translation against the Arabic text, sometimes including consultation with Bahá’u’lláh’s Persian
> rendering, as well as for his invaluable suggestions which improved the quality of this translation.
>
> — *Suffering of the Exalted Letters (Used by permission of the curator)*